(A) The following resources or technologies, if they have a placed-in-service date of January 1, 1998, or after, are qualified resources for meeting the renewable energy resource benchmarks:
(1) Solar photovoltaic or solar thermal energy.
(2) Wind energy.
(3) Hydroelectric energy.
(4) Geothermal energy.
(5) Solid waste energy derived from fractionalization, biological decomposition, or other process that does not principally involve combustion.
(6) Biomass energy.
(7) Energy from a fuel cell.
(8) A storage facility, if it complies with the following requirements:
(a) The electricity used to pump the resource into a storage reservoir must qualify as a renewable energy resource, or the equivalent renewable energy credits are obtained.
(b) The amount of energy that may qualify from a storage facility is the amount of electricity dispatched from the storage facility.
(9) Distributed generation system used by a customer to generate electricity from one of the resources or technologies listed in paragraphs (A)(1) to (A)(8) of this rule.
(10) A renewable energy resource created on or after January 1, 1998, by the modification or retrofit of any facility placed in service prior to January 1, 1998.
(B) The following resources or technologies, if they have a placed-in-service date of January 1, 1998, or after, are qualified resources for meeting the advanced energy resource benchmarks:
(1) Any modification to an electric generating facility that increases its generation output without increasing the facility's carbon dioxide emissions (tons per year) in comparison to its actual annual carbon dioxide emissions preceding the modification. In such an instance, it is the incremental increase in generation output that may be quantified and applied toward an advanced energy requirement.
(2) Any distributed generation system, designed primarily to meet the energy needs of the customer's facility that utilizes co-generation of electricity and thermal output simultaneously.
(3) Clean coal technology.
(4) Advanced nuclear energy technology, from:
(a) Advanced nuclear energy technology consisting of generation III technology as defined by the nuclear regulatory commission or other later technology.
(b) Significant improvements to existing facilities. In such an instance, it is the incremental increase in generation attributable to the improvement that may be quantified and applied toward an advanced energy requirement. Extension of the life of existing nuclear generation capacity shall not qualify as advanced nuclear energy technology.
(5) Energy from a fuel cell.
(6) Advanced solid waste or construction and demolition debris conversion technology that results in measurable greenhouse gas emission reductions.
(7) Demand-side management and energy efficiency, above and beyond that used to comply with any other regulatory standard or programs.
(C) The following new or existing mercantile customer-sited resources may be qualified resources for meeting electric utilities' annual, renewable- or advanced-energy resource benchmarks, as applicable, provided that it does not constitute double-counting for any other regulatory requirement and that the mercantile customer has committed the resource for integration into the electric utility's demand-response, energy efficiency, or peak-demand reduction programs pursuant to rule 4901:1-39-08 of the Administrative Code.
(1) Renewable energy resources from mercantile customers include the following:
(a) Electric generation equipment that uses a renewable energy resource and is owned or controlled by a mercantile customer.
(b) Any renewable energy resource of the mercantile customer that can be utilized effectively as part of an alternative energy resource plan of an electric utility and would otherwise qualify as a renewable energy resource if it were utilized directly by an electric utility.
(2) Advanced energy resources from mercantile customers include the following:
(a) A resource that improves the relationship between real and reactive power.
(b) A mercantile customer-owned or controlled resource that makes efficient use of waste heat or other thermal capabilities.
(c) Storage technology that allows a mercantile customer more flexibility to modify its demand or load and usage characteristics.
(d) Electric generation equipment owned or controlled by a mercantile customer that uses an advanced energy resource.
(e) Any advanced energy resource of the mercantile customer that can be utilized effectively as part of an advanced energy resource plan of an electric utility and would otherwise qualify as an advanced energy resource if it were utilized directly by an electric utility.
(D) An electric utility or electric services company may use renewable energy credits (REC) to satisfy all or part of a renewable energy resource benchmark, including a solar energy resource benchmark.
(1) To be eligible for use towards satisfying a benchmark, a REC must originate from a facility that meets the definition of a renewable energy resource, including solar energy resources, and be measured by a utility-grade meter in compliance with paragraph B of rule 4901:1-10-05 of the Administrative Code, for facilities with generating capacity of more than six kilowatts. Such facilities could include a mercantile customer-sited resource that is not committed for integration into an electric utility's demand-response, energy efficiency, or peak-demand reduction program pursuant to rule 4901:1-39-08 of the Administrative Code but that otherwise qualifies under the terms of paragraph (A) of this rule.
(2) To use RECs as a means of achieving partial or complete compliance, an electric utility or electric services company must be a registered member in good standing of at least one of the following:
(a) The PJM's generation attributes tracking system.
(b) The MISO's renewable energy tracking system.
(c) Another credible tracking system approved for use by the commission.
(3) A REC may be used for compliance any time in the five calendar years following the date of its initial purchase or acquisition.
(4) Double counting is prohibited.
(5) The RECs must be associated with electricity that was generated no earlier than July 31, 2008.
(E) For a generating facility of seventy-five megawatts or greater that is situated within this state and has committed by December 31, 2009, to modify or retrofit its generating unit or units to enable the facility to generate principally from biomass energy by June 30, 2013, the number of RECs produced by each megawatt-hour of electricity generated principally from biomass energy shall equal the actual percentage of biomass feedstock heat input used to generate such megawatt-hour multiplied by the quotient obtained by dividing the then existing unit dollar amount used to determine a renewable energy compliance payment as provided under division (C)(2)(b) of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code, by the then existing market value of one REC, but such megawatt-hour shall not equal less than one credit.
(F) An entity seeking resource qualification shall file an application for certification of its resources or technologies, upon such forms as may be prescribed by the commission. The application shall include a determination of deliverability to the state in accordance with paragraph (I) of rule 4901:1-40-01 of the Administrative Code.
(1) Any interested person may file a motion to intervene and file comments and objections to any application filed under this rule within twenty days of the date of the filing of the application.
(2) The commission may approve, suspend, or deny an application within sixty days of it being filed. If the commission does not act within sixty days, the application is deemed automatically approved on the sixty-first day after the date filed.
(3) If the commission suspends the application, the applicant shall be notified of the reasons for such suspension and may be directed to furnish additional information. The commission may act to approve or deny a suspended application within ninety days of the date that the application was suspended.
(4) Upon commission approval, the applicant shall receive notification of approval and a numbered certificate where applicable. The commission shall provide this certificate number to the appropriate attribute tracking system.
(5) Representatives of certified facilities must notify the commission within thirty days of any material changes in information previously submitted to the commission during the certification process. Failure to do so may result in revocation of certification status.
(6) Certification of a resource or technology shall not predetermine compliance with annual benchmarks, and does not constitute any commission position regarding cost recovery.
(G) At its discretion, the commission may classify any new technology or additional resource as an advanced- or renewable-energy resource. Any interested person may request a hearing on such classification.